Breakdown of Wir machen keine Pause. Stattdessen kontrollieren wir die Anwesenheit für die Gruppenarbeit.
machen
to make, to do
kein
no, not any
wir
we
für
for
die Pause
the break
stattdessen
instead
kontrollieren
to inspect
die Gruppenarbeit
the group work
die Anwesenheit
the attendance
Questions & Answers about Wir machen keine Pause. Stattdessen kontrollieren wir die Anwesenheit für die Gruppenarbeit.
Why is the verb kontrollieren placed immediately after stattdessen?
Stattdessen (instead) is an adverbial connector, which means it occupies the first position in its clause. Because German main clauses strictly follow the V2 rule (the conjugated verb must be in the second position), the verb kontrollieren has to come right after it. This pushes the subject wir into the third position.
Could I just use statt at the beginning of the second sentence?
No, because they have different grammatical roles. Stattdessen is an adverb meaning "instead" and stands alone to connect two separate ideas or sentences. Statt (or anstatt) is a preposition meaning "instead of" and requires an object or an infinitive clause. To use statt, you would have to combine the ideas into a single sentence, for example: Statt einer Pause kontrollieren wir die Anwesenheit.
Is kontrollieren a false friend here? Doesn't it mean "to control"?
Yes, it is a classic false friend! While it can occasionally mean "to control," it almost always translates to "to check," "to inspect," or "to monitor" in everyday German. Here, die Anwesenheit kontrollieren means "to check the attendance." If you want to express "to control" in the sense of having power over something or steering a process, you would typically use verbs like steuern or beherrschen.
How is the word Anwesenheit formed?
It is built from the adjective anwesend (present) and the noun-forming suffix -heit, which is similar to the English suffix "-ness". So, die Anwesenheit literally translates to "presence" or "attendance". The direct opposite is die Abwesenheit (absence), formed from abwesend (absent).
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